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Gateau Tiramisu

Another birthday, another new adventure. This time I thought I’d try my hand at something different. I never do boozy cakes: I dislike the taste of alcohol. But hey, it’s only the birthday girl who has to like it!

The cake is a génoise sponge. What makes this different is that it does not use any leavening, instead relying on air suspended in the batter to make it rise! Unlike other sponges, it also uses the whole egg, rather than beating each part separately.

It is by nature dry and dense, so it requires a good soaking with liqueurs or similar – I don’t think I’d want to eat it plain!

Between each coffee liqueur soaked layer is a layer of mascarpone cream.

Topped with cocoa and surrounded by biscuits, and of course decorated with a ribbon.

It was a new challenge, but an absolute pleasure. I was nervous about the new components, but it worked out fine.

This was my first big layered cake, so I was dying to see how they turned out. You never can tell til you cut the cake.

All that was left was to celebrate with cake! The best way I know how!

If you wanna taste this one for yourself, follow this:

Gateau Tiramisu

Ingredients

Génoise sponge cakes

300g plain flour

8 eggs

220g caster sugar

100g butter, melted

Mascarpone cream

1 tbsp instant coffee

190g caster sugar

50ml kahlua

4 egg yolks

500g mascarpone cheese

300ml thick cream

Cocoa powder

500g chocolate wafer sticks

Method

Génoise sponge cakes

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Line or grease 2 22cm tins.

2. Sift flour thrice

3. Combine eggs and sugar in a large heatproof bowl (note: mixture will expand). Place bowl over saucepan of simmering water. Beat for 8 minutes; remove from heat and beat a further 3 minutes.

4. Add butter and flour; fold until just combined (retaining air in the mixture is the key to making this cake rise)

5. Bake each cake for 25 minutes.

Mascarpone cream

1. Put coffee powder, 110g of the sugar, and 250ml water in a small saucepan; stir over low heat until dissolved. Remove from heat; add kahlua once cooled.

2. Beat yolks and 80g sugar in a heat proof bowl: place over pan of simmering water and beat for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and beat for a further 3 minutes.

To assemble the cake, cut cakes into two layers (giving you a total of 4 layers). Drench each layer with coffee liqueur, cover with cream, then add the next layer; repeat. Chill for an hour. Once done, dredge the top of the cake with cocoa, then cover the sides of the cake with remaining cream. Trim wafers to desired height, then press into the cake. Decorate as desired.

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7 thoughts on “Gateau Tiramisu”

That mascarpone cream looks very yummy! I love the look of the cake all done up at the end. Seems like a simple one (compared to some of the decorating you’ve done in the past), but it looks very impressive overall.